the staff to the preparation work but the comfort and healing were all under president obama. i remember worrying about the toll it was taking on him. even the president's comfort was woefully inadequate in the face of this particular be unspeakable loss. it became some small measure of love on a weekend when evil range. the funny thing was president obama has never spoken about these meetings. he addressed the shooting in newtown and gun violence in a subsequent speech but didn't speak about private gatherings. he was nearly silent on air force one as we rode back to washington. he said little about his time with those families since. must have been one of the defining moments of his presidency, those quiet hours in solemn classrooms, extending as much feeling as was in his power to extend but he kept it to himself, never seeking to teach a lesson based on those mournful conversations or opening them up to public view. jesus teaches us that some things, the holiest things, the most painful and important and cherished things, we are to do in secret. not for public consumption